In a nutshell, it is “I feel therefore it must be true.” Whenever someone concludes that how they feel about something must be the reality of the situation, any evidence that contradicts how they are feeling is dismissed in favor of the assumed “truth” of their feelings.

Much like a microscope, this can magnify or minimize qualities you want to make larger or smaller and offers the ability to distort them and remove them from their original context.

Catastrophizing is assuming that the worst is going to happen. And causes people to jump to the worst possible conclusion, usually with very little information to go off of. And even going as far as exaggerating the difficulties that you are having.

Mind reading assumes that we know what another person is going to say or do without having much to go on. This can be fine in small doses. For example, we know that certain nonverbal behavioral cues can indicate what a person is thinking. But when used too much without much evidence to go on can become problematic.

Toxic positivity is the belief or assumption that no matter what is going on in a person’s life, they should maintain a positive attitude, manner, and mindset. Negative emotions such as anger, fear, sadness, or anything uncomfortable are viewed as not O.K. and need to be abandoned for a happy and more positive outlook.